6) Repeat #2 a couple of times; reach out to your friends and have them sign and retweet!

But why does it matter?

Ice Girl/Crew Fan: The women on the Ice Crew know what their outfit will look like - if they don’t care, why should you?

3hawksgoals: This petition isn’t about that. Grown women can and should make their own decisions. We’re not going to get into questions about why part of the job description for the women is to wear less clothing than the men do. Plenty of other articles and people have questioned that and written smart things.

It’s about my rights as a paying customer. The fact that I’m paying money to attend an event at the United Center usually is a straight-forward process that goes something like this:

Me: I like Beyoncé!

Me: I will buy tickets! To see Beyoncé! Here is the $$$ for me to see Beyoncé!

Beyoncé: *performs a show*

Me: That was exactly what I paid for.

When I buy tickets to see the Blackhawks play at the United Center - I want and expect to see hockey. I’m not paying to see Beyoncé’s back-up dancers, just like I’m not paying to see anything beyond the hockey with a bunch of fans. The difference is that Beyoncé’s back-up dancers aren't doing anything to make the show worse, whereas these in-game "additions" actively cause upset.

Ice Girl/Crew Fan:: What are you even talking about? The Ice Girls/Ice Crew are out there for six minutes a game! Why can’t you just ignore it?

3hawksgoals: Alright, let’s say I decide I’m just going to look at my phone during a stoppage of play because I’m virtuously ignoring the scantily clad ice shovelers.

Meanwhile, the guy two rows behind me is yelling speculation about the bodily orifices of an Ice Crew member, and kindly provides the name of a bar that she can meet him at after the game, along with other things that I’m not gonna type ‘cause there’s people 13-17 years of age who have signed this petition. She can’t hear you, buddy; we’re in the 300s. I am glad she cannot hear you; I wish I could say the same for me. I glance up and see a couple of nervous looking kids because there’s a man shouting really rude things and their dad is turning around incredulously.

And it keeps happening. Pretty much every fan I've talked to has a story along these lines. I wish I were being hyperbolic. Here’s a few stories from petition signers.

CSN viewing area fan, Adam: hearing the discussions of shoot the puck women and ice girls in stadium is among my least pleasant UC experiences. during my most recent visit for the regular season home finale a drunk fan berated a female fan with every gender slanted degrading term he could muster. your ushers chastised the woman and told the man to 'not provoke her.'

US fan, Rebecca: I was sitting by two gentlemen who were literally looking over the photos of the ice girls (for the Dallas stars granted) and talking about which ones were fuckable and going into graphic detail with a family that included some small children sitting within ear shot as well. I assure you that the parents of the children who had to listen to these guys did not appreciate it and in fact rearranged their seating so that their kids were further from the guys.

CSN viewing area fan, Brooke: One of my most vivid memories from the Old Chicago Stadium in the late 80s / early 90s is hearing some guy yell "Show us your tits!" at the 3rd Shoot the Puck contestant. I was a 12 year old girl at a hockey game with my Dad. That's one of my most vivid memories of the Blackhawks and Shoot the Puck. Not the game I was at or the goals scored. But some guy yelling that for Shoot the Puck.

US fan: For the time leading up to the "hot girls turn" as they were calling it, they kept talking about how they were looking forward to seeing how hot the "piece of ass" (I'm using exact phrases that were said by groups around me prior to them even seeing who was "Picked at random" to STP that night) was. I asked them to stop, due to there being a little girl in front of them, but they only quieted down a little. It was the exact opposite environment that I would want young girls to experience at what is supposed to be a fun family experience. I ended up taking her out to the concessions for the end of intermission to try to explain to her why she needed to not listen to what those guys were saying and why it's not true.

CSN viewing area fan, Eliza: Went to a Blackhawks game at the UC. Got groped by a male fan. Went to security, who basically said "Yeah sorry there's nothing we can do." Emailed the UC and the Blackhawks about my experience and received no reply. Somehow I'm still a fan and still spend a shit-ton of time, money, and energy following the Hawks even though, let's be real, a girl like me (late 20s, conventionally attractive) getting groped at a game is the logical consequence of the attitude the Hawks display toward women in their use of Ice Girls in skimpy clothes and the whole "The Stripper" thing in Shoot The Puck.

CSN viewing area fan, Renata: your treatment of females during shoot the puck is heinous, and the sad thing is I think the organization is completely aware of that. You pick (or supply) a single type of woman for the sole purpose of her being jeered and leered at. It has made me, my friends, and my nieces who I occasionally bring to games extremely uncomfortable to hear the sexist and crude crap from fans who think the regular inclusion of a busty, heels wearing woman gives them the right to vomit misogyny. The sad thing is, you're not just ignoring sexist hockey culture, you're actively helping to create it. And that's why I will not attend another Hawks game or buy a single other piece of merchandise until these and other issues are addressed.

3hawksgoals: So yeah. It’s kind of hard to “just ignore” those things. I shouldn’t have to pay for the “privilege” of sitting in that atmosphere. (And if you tell me, “okay, just don’t go!” - I honestly don’t even understand how you got this far into reading this in the first place.)

No, the Hawks aren’t responsible for the behavior of the people attending their games. (Though, didn’t they apologize when the drunk guy took the helmet from a Jets player?)

But they are responsible if what they’re putting out on the ice creates certain reactions in people, and they in turn make other people feel unwelcomed, uncomfortable or unsafe.

And if you feel like telling A.J. Dolan, manager of In-Game Presentation and Entertainment for the Blackhawks, just how entertained you feel via the Hawks’ Game Operations webform, you could do that.

The Game Operations Department coordinates all entertainment elements within a Blackhawk game. These elements include the music, videoboard, message boards, P.A. announcements, organ, anthem singers, Tommy Hawk the team mascot, the Ice Crew, on-ice and in-bowl promotions and live entertainment. If you have questions about any of these elements, you may call (312) 455-7000.

What's the #BanTheStripper hashtag all about? Are you talking about the women shooting the puck?!

No, it's only referring to the name of the song the Hawks' organist plays when a woman goes up during Shoot the Puck. I agree, it's weird.